I put together a little playlist to showcase that, despite what you may think by listening to “country music” radio, watching CMT or seeing the CMA Awards. Honky Tonk & Outlaw Country are alive and well.

The world of music lost a true Icon today, as on his 79th birthday, Merle haggard, one of the true legends of country music has passed away.

Via The Tennessean:

Merle Haggard, the working man’s poet, an architect of the Bakersfield Sound and a fiercely independent artist who influenced country music like few others, died Wednesday in California, surrounded by friends and family.

He had just turned 79 and had been in failing health for some time, leading to the diagnosis of double pneumonia and subsequent cancellation of several concert dates, including two nights at the Ryman Auditorium that were originally scheduled for March.

Over the course of his half-century career, Mr. Haggard recorded 38 No. 1 country singles and wrote some of the genre’s most revered classics, which have been recorded by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, The Byrds, Vince Gill, The Grateful Dead and countless others.

“Merle Haggard’s reach knew no bounds,” said Jay Orr, a historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Orr also noted that Mr. Haggard so embodied country music that the museum’s core exhibit, “Sing Me Back Home,” takes its title from a chart-topping song he released in 1968.

Mr. Haggard’s life, which took him from a San Quentin prison cell to the Country Music Hall of Fame, was a truly American success story. Read More…

Its not often that I use the word hero, but Merle Haggard is a country music hero of mine. I didn’t listen to or even understand country music as a teenager and it was not until my mid twenties that I got turned on to the music of Haggard.

In David Allan Coe’s “The Ride,” a song about encountering the ghost of the late great Hank Williams Sr, there is a verse that goes like this:

“Drifter can ya make folks cry when you play and sing?Have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues?Can you bend them, guitar strings?”He said, “Boy can you make folks feel what you feel inside?‘Cause if you’re big star bound let me warn ya, it’s a long, hard ride”

That truly defines Merle Haggard, when he sang you could feel it inside.

A while back I posted a story about a group of young Iranian fans of Pharrell Williams, who were sentenced to jail time & 91 lashes for making their own video of the American pop star’s hit song “Happy.”

Apparently in Iran if you have better taste in music and are a fan of heavy metal or more so if you play in a heavy metal band — the punishment is far worse.

According to a message received by Metal Nation Radio, two members of Iranian metal band, Confess, have been arrested by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and have been held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since November of last year until their release earlier this month after posting bail.

“Beatings, torture, mock executions and brutal interrogations are the norm at Evin prison, where for four decades the anguished cries of prisoners have been swallowed up by the drab walls of the low-slung lockup in northwestern Tehran. Standing at the foot of the Alborz Mountains, it is home to an estimated 15,000 inmates, including killers, thieves and rapists. But the prison has also held ayatollahs, journalists, intellectuals and dissidents over the years…”

During their time in jail the two metalheads were allegedly kept in solitary confinement. They are currently facing charges of blasphemy, advertising against the system, forming and running an illegal and underground band and recording label in a musical genre considered to be Satanic, writing lyrics that are anti-religious, atheistic, political, and anarchistic and granting interviews to forbidden foreign radio stations.

They are facing jail time from six months to six years or even worse could face the death-penalty if found guilty of the charge of blasphemy.

If there ever was a country in dire need of a cultural & political revolution its the Islamic Republic of Iran.

I’m not normally one to get all excited when somebody from Hollyweird or a music celebrity espouses a politically oriented view that tends to agree with me, as many other on the non-liberal side of the political spectrum seem to do. I have posted stuff in the past when Jonathan Davis of KoRn said stuff about Barack Obama and didn’t get too excited about it.

But when Kirk Windstein, the motherfucking Lord of the Riff does it? That just makes this metalhead’s heart fill up with joy.

As reported by Blabbermouth.net, in a public post on his personal Facebook page, former Down guitarist and frontman for Crowbar, Kirk Windstein addressed Dear Leader’s unconstitutional and lawless gun-grab announcement by accusing the President of putting on a show for political purposes.

He wrote:

“OBAMA’S FAKE TEARS ARE THE WORST FUCKING ATTEMPT I HAVE EVER SEEN AT CARING…HE HAS DESTROYED THIS COUNTRY, AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO, UNTIL THE DAY HE LEAVES OFFICE. I AM NOT A GUN OWNER, NOR AM I A REPUBLICAN. JUST A DRUG FREE, TAX PAYING CITIZEN.”

Fuck yeah Kirk! I feel the exact same way.

Also, despite my fierce belief in the 2nd Amendment, I too am not actually a gun owner. But that has absolutely no bearing in believing that the fundamental right of American citizens to keep and bear arms is sacred.

MOTÖRHEAD mainman Lemmy died earlier today at the age of 70, it has been confirmed by his manager.

Lemmy dealt with some serious health issues recently, forcing the indulgent rock legend to scale back on alcohol and kick his cigarette habit. Though Lemmy had made some positive steps forward, he had been struggling with poor health in recent months, leading to MOTÖRHEAD’s touring schedule being disrupted.

The rock icon recently claimed that he was doing just fine and was people to stop asking about his health.

He told Classic Rock: “I’m sick of the fucking, ‘Are you going to die?’ line of questioning. It’s getting really old, that question. I’m alright. I’m going out there and doing my best.

“I have good days and bad days but mostly I’ve been doing alright. The last tour of the States was very good.”

Lemmy, who turned 70 years old on December 24, told Classic Rock he had no intention of retiring.

He said: “It’s when you get to 60 when everything starts to go pear-shaped. Everyone thinks that becoming an older guy is easy, but you never consider it fully. It comes as quite a shock. But the thing is, I don’t want to give in to it.”

Lemmy previously said that he didn’t expect to still be here at 30. Read More…

These kids are from the O’Keefe Music Foundation, the same place as the kids who covered Tool’s “Forty-Six & 2,” are from. While I’m not so sure the lyrics and subject matter of this song (addiction and only someone being to express oneself artistically while under the influence,) are appropriate for kids under the age of 16 — these kids did an amazing job.

This past Friday the Foo Fighters played a show in Kansas City’s Sprint center. Apparently the nutjob pieces of garbage from the Westboro Baptist Cult where outside doing there normal crazy protest thing.

Dave Grohl, still recovering from a broken leg, and the rest of the Foo’s decided to have a little fun at the expense of the crazy cultists and did a live-action Rickroll.

It should be the duty of all proud Americans to ridicule and shame the Westboro Cult members at every opportunity.

I posted this rant on Instagram while listening to this great album from two Country Music legends and then seeing a post on Facebook about Luke Bryan. It’s fueled by a couple glassed of sweet tea & bourbon, but the sentiments are true.

So VH1 has a series called, The Complete History Of Heavy Metal. The first episode featured the godfather of heavy metal himself, the master of the riff, Tony Iommi, It’s narrated by Iommi, animated by Paul Blow and discusses the industrial accident that saw the Black Sabbath guitarist lose the tips of his fingers, and launch the sound that would become synonymous with the genre.

Kam Brock, a 32-year-old Jamaican-born rapper from Long Island, who goes by the stage name Akilah Brock, claims that she was falsely detained last year in a Harlem mental institution. Brock has filed a lawsuit at Manhattan Federal Court saying she was wrongly told she had bipolar disorder and was forced to endure eight days at the mental facility at Harlem Hospital. Amongst her claims is that she was institutionalized because she claimed that President Barack Obama follows her on twitter — a claim which is actually true.

Brock states that she she was heavily sedated by the hospital staff, she states that she only mentioned to doctors that the president follows her on Twitter to show them “the type of person I am. I’m a good person, a positive person. Obama follows positive people.”

The official @BarackObama twitter handle, which is run by Organizing For Action, follows over 640 thousand followers, including Brock’s @AkilahBrock handle.

Kam “Akilah” Brock, claims she was branded delusional for saying President Obama was a twitter follower.

Brock’s lawsuit alleges that her discharge after 8 days was made contingent on her denying that Obama followed her twitter.

“Objective: Patient will verbalize the importance of education for employment and will state that Obama is not following her on Twitter,” the document reads.

It also notes “patient’s weaknesses: inability to test reality, unemployment.”

Adding insult to insanity, the hospital hit Brock with a bill of $13,637.10, she charges in her suit seeking unspecified damages.

The bizarre experience began Sept. 12, when the NYPD seized her prized 2003 BMW 325Ci in Harlem because they suspected she was high on weed, her attorney, Michael Lamonsoff, said. Cops found no marijuana but confiscated her ride anyway, he said. The NYPD declined to comment.

The following day, Brock walked into the NYPD’s Public Service Area 6 stationhouse in Harlem to retrieve her car, her suit charges.

Brock — an eccentric 32-year-old born in Jamaica with dreams of making it big in the entertainment business — admitted in an interview she was “emotional,” but insisted she in no way is an “emotionally disturbed person.”

Nevertheless, cops cuffed her and put her in an ambulance bound for the hospital, her suit charges. Read More…

While I think there might be a little bit more to this story, she looks to have a very good case. The standards for whatever reasons the NYPD determines that someone needs to be locked up in a psych ward seem to be ridiculously low.

Then again, anyone who voted for or supports Barack Obama is probably in need of at least some mental help.